The Wednesday night before the 100 mile race, I dreamed that I fell asleep during the ultra marathon many times, waking up each time realizing I had lost time, but feeling content knowing that I could now pass slower runners up. I kept falling asleep though so this never happened.
On Thursday morning, I took a flight into Calgary, AB. After picking up a rental car, I drove the 2+ hour route south towards Fort McLeod and then East to Lethbridge. Upon heading South from Calgary, a torrential thunderstorm came with lots of hail and temps down to 6 Celsius. That was cold! I stopped for a subway sandwich on my way to Lethbridge, and checked into Lethbridge Lodge around 6 pm. I then picked up my packet at Runners Soul and then went to Osho Sushi restaurant for Yakisoba and rice, which was really tasty.
The alarm went off at 6:00 am, and I ate bananas and bagels for breakfast.
The next step was to decide which shoes to wear. I had planned on wearing my Altra Lone Peaks but when I put them on the cushioning felt gone from the trauma they took at Bighorn in June. I put on the barely worn Altra Olympus shoes with the comfy feel and decided to take my chances with the narrow single track which increased the ankle injury/fall risk.
At 7:10 am, I dropped off my 3 drop bags, and at 7:30 am, I went to the pre-race briefing.
Lost Soul 100, would be my sixth 100 mile start, and I hoped to finish a slam here after finishing Badger100, Zion100, and Bighorn100 earlier this year. Yet I would have to do it without a crew, without a pacer, and without knowing anyone on the course.
At 7:55 am, the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada" was sung, which was the first time I had ever heard the song at a race. It really is a great patriotic song, and I enjoyed it.
At 8:00 am on Friday morning, we started off.
Image by Mark Virginillo
After settling into a sustainable pace, I enjoyed the 4 mile first leg which loops around the South hills, and has some flat sections near the end before climbing up back to headquarters. Those first 4 miles only took about 44 minutes, kind of a fast start. I grabbed and quickly ate some bananas and potatoes, dropped my light jacket, and took off towards Softball Valley. This leg 2 is a good 5 mile section that goes under a long, long train bridge that frequently has trains going over it.
This section then goes up and over some hills and along some coulees. Just as I saw softball valley in the distance and looked at my watch, I saw I still had 1 mile to go to the aid station. I wasn't surprised then to see the trail head up steeply onto a hill before cruising down again to Softball Valley aid station. Here I refilled the bottles, ate bananas, potatoes and pretzels and took off towards Pavan, pronounced (Puh-'von). The next section, leg 3, is 6 miles and was the toughest section for me each time because it is hill after hill after hill. There were lots of small cactus plants on the side of the trail, such that I was afraid I would step on one with the narrow single-track, especially in the dark during the second and third loops.
The heat really started to intensify in the coulees where it felt up to 80F. Thankfully it was cooler on the ridges with some wind, but the intense sun didn't help. I struggled to maintain hydration, but kept on top of it fairly well. At Mile 15 or 16 came Pavan aid station, and I was happy to see Sushi rice and seaweed after being on the course for 3 hours. Wow, that was really tasty, too. I also ate bananas and took off. Leg 4 is a 10 mile section heading straight up into the North Hills and along a nice plateau before descending into a flat section. Some nice landowner supplied us with water bottles on a fold up table 3 miles into this section. More hills then came.
One great thing Lost Soul Ultra does is to name many of the hills with signs, such as Curly Hill, Moe Hill, and Larry Hill. It also puts difficulty ratings on many hills, like black diamond, blue square, and green circle, just like ski slopes. Its the little things like this that bring smiles to Ultrarunners and that keep us going.
At Mile 21 comes a super steep downhill with no traction, which was sketchy with my Olympus shoes. The only water crossing then came with several relatively stable logs to cross with. Along this section by Old Man River, I saw and heard migrating Canada Geese, belted kingfishers and many songbirds. Black-billed magpies flew across the valley occasionally. A few clouds danced across the sky bringing sporadic relief from the intense heat of the midday. At this point, my legs were getting tired and I was ready for a break so I started alternating speed hiking and running.
At Mile 26, I arrived back at Pavan, eating more rice, bananas, and pretzels. I was expecting a mostly flat leg 5 from the map with 4 miles in this section, but there were two really steep hills early on. I caught up to a runner who said, "Oh, I remember this hill!" She had run this race before, and remember this infamous section. I came across another runner named Hiro who was running really well. I gave him some encouragement and he went on ahead. The heat was intense now in the early to mid afternoon. One final hill came a mile later before Softball Valley. At Softball valley, I fueled at mile 30 and proceeded on towards probably the easiest section, leg 6 heading back towards the HQ aid station. The final climb up HQ is quite steep but there is ground netting to help with traction, and at the top, there is a paved path toward the aid stations that you can see.
It was 3:20 pm when I arrived at mile 34 at the HQ aid station, or 7:20 elapsed time. I was a little behind schedule to get a sub-24 hour finish, but I was doing my best which was all I can expect. I ate bananas and potatoes and took off. On loop 2 leg 1, only the 100 miler runners were on this section as the 100km runners didn't have to run this leg. The trail thus thinned out quite a bit, with only a couple of runners seen on this section. I cruised back to HQ A/S and then to Softball Valley A/S. The next 2 legs from miles 43-59 would be the most difficult legs of the course for me.
From Softball Valley to Pavan, the relentless hills really took a toll on me after a long hot day. I would have to hydrate better and eat more so that I could make it to the finish. It was about 7:30 pm when I made it to Pavan, mile 49, just about to the halfway point. At mile 50 I would have been on my feet for 12 hours, so a sub-24 hour finish was out the window. Upon arriving at the Pavan aid station, I just stood there. A volunteer comes up to me and says, "you look like a lost soul." I said, "yeah, well, at least I fit in well here", with a smile on my face. He asked me if I had a pacer or a crew to which I said, "no." His jaw dropped and said "well, the aid station volunteers will help me throughout the night." I said, "Yes, I will need the help a lot." I sat down, and he brought me some broth, rice with quinoa. After finishing that I ate some bananas and changed into warmer clothes and took potatoes with me as I took off with only 7 minutes spent at the aid station. One volunteer there said as I took off, "Its a good thing you didn't stay very long here." I didn't know exactly why he said that to me, but I agreed with him and said, "Yes, I just need to keep walking." I turned on my headlamp and came across a group of 8 children with glow sticks who quickly ran behind a bush beside the trail. I smelled the fish and acted like nothing was going on. The kids yelled and screamed and I acted scared to which they laughed and giggled. As they talked amongst themselves, I politely told them there was another runner coming soon, which was true.
As I climbed up several hills it was just in time to see more deer and the sunset.
The wind really started to pick up on the ridges, and I was glad for my long sleeve shirt, light jacket, and beenie. In the dark, the narrow single track with the ever present trail-side cactus significantly slowed down the pace, and I hiked more than I ran. A few shrews raced across the trail. More flats came. Then came the super steep slick downhill section, but this time in the dark!
"Snap" is what I heard as I fell to the ground and slid a few feet down the slope. The rest of the way down I scooted down the slope to the bottom to assess the damage. "Whew" I thought as I realized i just sprained my pinkie finger that was more tight than painful. I slow down again and hiked over the water crossing before gaining more momentum towards Pavan A/S at mile 59. I came into the A/S more chipper I am guessing. The volunteer who had said I looked like a lost soul before, had a smile and saw a revived runner, albeit with an undeclared sprained pinkie finger. More broth, bananas and rice would be taken with much gratitude, and I took off in the dark again at about 11 pm.
The next section was great as I had my second wind and cruised through the dark up over steep hills, down coulees, through valleys, and towards the Softball Valley aid station. I was kind of emotional as I realized this would be my last of four 100 milers this year, and that I needed to enjoy every mile of it. The approach into Softball valley in the dark was cool with glow sticks and orange pylons showing to way to the aid station with a half moon overhead. For fun I turned off my headlamp, running on the grass in the dark to see if I could sneak up upon the people at the aid station. Here I had some broth, potatoes and bananas. It was about 12:30 am. At about 2:00 am, it had taken me 18 hours to travel 67 miles. I now had 17 hours to do the last 34 miles. Now the question was, "how fast could I make it back that last loop. The first loop took me 7:20; the second 10:40, so I didn't know if the third loop would take me 14:00 via extrapolation, or even more.
The consistent hydration and nutrition along with the cooler temperatures of the night started slowly, slowly to give energy back into me. Leg 1 back to HQ A/S was faster the third loop than the second loop. The third wind had begun. I only hoped it would last a while. I didn't last more than 4 miles, but I keep moving anyway. Leg 2 from HQ to Softball Valley was faster the third loop than the second loop. I enjoyed turning off my headlamp again as I ran under streetlamps and the half moon coming into the A/S. 21 hours had elapsed, it was now about 5:00 am at mile 77. It was mile 97 though for the 100 mile leader who came into the aid station at the same time as me. He and his pacer commented that the runner up was 30 minutes behind, but they didn't stay very long.
I fueled and took off, realizing that I looked forward to the hills more than flats now. The hills were actually easier than the flats, even the steep hills.
More deer greeted me in the hills. At the top of curly hill, I saw the sunrise. I kept stopping to get a better picture, because it was so amazing.
At mile 83, I ran across more runners returning to the finish at their mile 93. I was inspired by them to keep running, many of whom said leg 4 was the toughest because of the 10 mile distance between aid stations.
I kept moving. This was the time when illusions, not hallucinations would surface. I saw a black bear in a gully which didn't move and turned out to be a culvert. I saw many people in brown clothes standing on the trail watching the runners go by, that turned out the be rock cairns. I saw a few snakes which turned out to be roots in the path. I did see one live garter snake later that morning, but no rattlesnakes.
Upon reaching the super steep downhill at mile 89, I gingerly scooted down the hill, sliding a little but not risking another, and potentially more dangerous injury. The water crossing came, followed by flats and Pavan A/S at mile 93. The few short step hills along the next section, leg 5, brought with it intense wind up to 40 mph, along with sand/small rocks blowing in my face. The heat was again building up. As expected the 50km leaders who started at 7 am that morning were catching up to me. I saw that they hiked the steep uphills just like me but a little faster, but they could run really fast on the flats while I power hiked and ran occasionally. I caught my fourth wind upon reaching Softball Valley AS at mile 97, stopping for less than a minute to fill a bottle and take a few potatoes with me to eat while I power hiked towards the finish.
I encouraged a few more 50km runners that passed me and I power hiked as fast as a 16 min/mile pace the last 4 miles, which were mostly flat. My feet were really sore now and the flats were again harder than the hills.
I really looked forward to the last hill now. I practically ran up the last steep hill in a sprint, and sprinted that last path to the finish, trying to make it in under 29 hours, and it was.
Image by Mark Virginillo
At the finish at just before 1 pm, Hiro was there to congratulate me on the finish, and I congratulated him as well.
The 2016 slam was done--and how fitting it was to complete it at Lost Soul which has Softball Valley Aid Station, at which I ran into 6 times.
At the Sunday awards breakfast line I looked at the boulder and rock awards for the fastest runners overall and age group awards. I seriously said to a runner behind me, "I am glad I am not getting an award because I have to fly on an airplane back home today." I didn't get a response from him but I shrugged it off. The joke was on me though because they announced that they were giving awards to the top 5 in each age group. "Uh-oh" I thought, because I think I was 5th place in 18-39 age group for the 100 miler. I still hoped I didn't get a 200 pound boulder. Maybe I would get a tiny rock. Nope--it was a 26 pound rock that I would pack in a suitcase back to the States.
The finisher tile
For days before this last race, I kept asking myself why I run these 100 mile races and endure so much discomfort. During the first loop of this race I realized the answer.
"Do not worry about those trying to catch up to you or those who are ahead. Rather stay focused on the path ahead and enjoy the journey. Encourage each other. Step aside when faster runners want to pass. It's only a race or competition for those who run it for that. For those who run fast or slow for the adventure, it is simply a journey to be enjoyed, and each is one-of-a-kind."
